‘Burrito Boys’ deliver food and friendship

Michael Johnson (left) gets a big hug from friend David McCormick during a breakfast-delivery run near Petco Park. Last summer, Johnson and his wife took McCormick to Coronado to watch their son and his friends play in a beach soccer tournament. — Eduardo Contreras

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Michael Johnson (left) gets a big hug from friend David McCormick during a breakfast-delivery run near Petco Park. Last summer, Johnson and his wife took McCormick to Coronado to watch their son and his friends play in a beach soccer tournament.
— Eduardo Contreras

During the week, they are just Alec, Luke, Nick, Joe, Cole, Justin and Julian, seven 13- and 14-year-old friends who love soccer and fantasy football and put up with middle school as best they can. But on Sunday mornings, they are the Burrito Boys, seven big-hearted kids trying to make a small difference to San Diego’s homeless population — one handmade breakfast at a time.

Because Christmas Day falls on a Sunday this year, the Burrito Boys of Tierrasanta will spend Christmas morning the way they have spent nearly every Sunday morning for the last year. At 7:15 a.m., they will gather in a kitchen to cook and assemble trays full of egg and cheese burritos. Then a couple of parents will drive the boys to downtown San Diego. where they will be greeted by men, women, children and dogs who count the visit from the Burrito Boys as one of the highlights of their week. As it turns out, the feeling is mutual.

“We’re going to keep doing this until we have to stop,” 14-year-old Julian Wahl said. “This is a part of my week that I really look forward to.”

Like a lot of character-building activities, this one was not initially the boys’ idea. The whole thing started last year when Michael and Mehrnaz Johnson checked out the Christmas lists their son, Alec, and his friend Luke Trolinger were putting together. Looking at the requests for iPods and cellphones, the Johnsons decided what the boys needed most for Christmas was a little perspective, and feeding those less fortunate than themselves seemed like a good way to go.

Alec Johnson, 13, stacks breakfast burritos at Long Island Mike’s Pizza on a recent Sunday morning. Alec and his group of middle-school friends and parent volunteers have made more than 7,000 burritos for homeless people in downtown San Diego. — Eduardo Contreras

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Alec Johnson, 13, stacks breakfast burritos at Long Island Mike’s Pizza on a recent Sunday morning. Alec and his group of middle-school friends and parent volunteers have made more than 7,000 burritos for homeless people in downtown San Diego.
— Eduardo Contreras

But somewhere along the way, two boys became a group of seven, as friends from Alec and Luke’s Quest Tierrasanta soccer team joined in. The parental tag team of Michael and Mehrnaz Johnson evolved into a nonprofit group with a website (hunger2help.com) and a

support system of donors that includes fellow parents, grandparents, friends and strangers.

The number of burritos served in one month ballooned from 229 in November of 2010 to 623 burritos in November of 2011. The Sunday-morning cargo has grown to include books, toys, sweaters, tarps and dog treats.

And for everyone involved, a short-term life lesson has become a way of life.

“We were only going to do it in November and December (last year). That was the intention,” Michael Johnson said from the kitchen of Long Island Mike’s Pizza in Tierrasanta, which owner Mike May opens up on Sunday mornings for the crew’s cooking and assembly sessions. “But after that first week, we knew we weren’t going to stop.”

Last Sunday, after the boys made 168 fat burritos with the eggs May donated, Michael Johnson steered his Ford Explorer toward their first stop on 16th Street. Then he and his crew went over the rules for serving breakfast with a side of dignity. Make eye contact. Ask people how they’re doing. Call them by name if you can.

And as the Burrito Boys made their downtown deliveries, they were met with ample evidence that they were doing more than providing one hot meal once a week. Faces lit up when the Explorer rounded the downtown corners. There were lines of people waiting with multiple hugs and many “God bless you’s.” A regular named Eddie gave them a Christmas card.

“I really look forward to my Sundays. It’s amazing to see these boys,” said Jazzmine Sharp, who accepted a burrito for herself and dog treats for Rascal the pit bull. “They’ve got the most beautiful hearts.”

While Mehrnaz handed out the water bottles donated by San Diego’s Plus One Water and the paperbacks that are almost as popular as the food, the boys were marking a milestone. They were serving Burrito No. 7,000, and the lucky recipient was David, a gentle bookworm in a wheelchair who has become such a group favorite, the Johnsons took him to Coronado one day last summer to watch the boys play in a beach soccer tournament.

“They’ve become really good friends,” 13-year-old Luke Trolinger said of their homeless customers.

On the way back to Long Island Mike’s, the boys talked about how much the little kids on 16th Street loved the hand puppets they gave them, how much they look forward to spending their post-burrito Sundays watching football together, and how weird it is to be thinking about Christmas presents when their homeless pal Ike didn’t even know Christmas was coming.

They also talked about their legacy, and how a Burrito Boy isn’t just something you are. It’s an honor you have to earn.

“You have to be devoted. You have to show up. You can’t be in it just because you want to hang out afterwards,” Luke said.

“And your heart has to be in the right place,” Julian added. “Luke taught me that.”

Have you been inspired by someone who has given back to the community? Send your nominations for people Making a Difference in an e-mail to: makingadifference@uniontrib.com.